After All Is Said and Done
by Iorhael
Summary: Is everything going to be all right after the death of the alien queen? Slash, violence, angst. Very violent. Updated chapters 9 24 COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**After All Is Said and Done**

**Chapter 1**

Zeke paid no attention to Casey's wet and shaky condition. Shaky, even when the boy seemed to be unconscious. And Zeke gathered him effortlessly in his arms, hauled him up, and fled as fast as he could from behind the folded up bleachers. He knew the enormous creature seemed as dead as death itself, shrinking, with its skin slowly drying up and becoming callused. But Zeke did not want to risk it. He would not feel safe before they got outside – too bad his car was a wreck now – and left the school immediately.

Zeke did not even check on Stokely's condition, and he did not plan to check on others as well. The demise of the queen bee might kill all her spawn, and – sadly – perhaps every single body they took as the hosts was perished, too. This last thought made Zeke froze. He saw it when the alien queen darted parts of herself to Casey, but also witnessed how the parasites slumped out of the boy's face afterwards. After running several hundred meters away from the school, Zeke lowered down Casey's body and examined him for a sign of a pulse. With shuddering breaths, Zeke realized with profound relief to discover that Casey was very much alive. No, Casey did not die. So probably the others also managed to survive.

Sinking onto the hard pavement by the road, Zeke laid Casey's head carefully on his lap. What now? He could not imagine walking while carrying Casey all the way to the Connors' or his house. Not with the boy still out cold. But Zeke was not sure, either, if Casey would be strong enough to walk when he came to. Zeke's head was still buzzing with indecision when he felt a hand tugging at his shirtsleeve.

"Casey!" Zeke had never been happier to see his friend stare at him openly. "How are you, man?"

"W – w…" Casey sounded so parched but Zeke did not have any water to alleviate the discomfort.

"What is it?" Zeke urged. All he could do was bring himself closer to the boy.

Casey swallowed, closing his eyes briefly, and parted his lips.

"Where… where are we? What has happened?"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

"I don't know," said Zeke matter-of-factly. "I don't know where we are now." He smoothed Casey's hair off his brow, Zeke's eyes soft, and he gazed around to the darkness engulfing them. No house was in sight and the situation was so quiet. There were only clusters of trees standing together on one side of the road and an open land on the other. Zeke wondered where all the people in Herrington had gone. If his notion was correct about them all surviving after the alien died, he and Casey should have come across anyone by now.

Zeke turned to Casey again. The small lad was still shaking. Zeke lifted him a bit so he could tighten his arms around him.

"Are you okay, Case?" he murmured, wondering if he should propose them to start moving now.

Casey was shivering down there. "Zeke…"

"Yes?"

"Why are we here? What has happened?"

There was that question again. Zeke frowned. Was Casey in a shock or something?

"Casey, you killed the alien queen in our school. Don't you remember that?"

"I don't— Alien queen? What're you talking about, Zeke?" Only this time Casey began to squirm. Zeke let him sit up, unthinkingly, for _he_ was shocked to hear the boy's question.

"What do you mean what I am talking about? You stabbed that mammoth-sized squid, and you asked me _what I am talking about_?" Zeke's jaw dropped open. Apparently Casey was in a worse condition than he thought.

But Casey, too, looked bewildered at Zeke's answer, as if that friend of his had lost his mind. _Alien, mammoth-sized squid, stabbed – he did that?_ Casey shook his head and retreated slowly.

"Case, you don't believe me? Gods, what's wrong with you?"

_No, no, no_, Casey thought in panic. Here he was, lying down on the street, on a hard pavement – for goodness' sake – and the person he was with sounded… _crazy_. Casey got on his hands and knees and, to Zeke's dismay, really started to crawl backward, away from Zeke.

"Casey!" Zeke cried out desperately. "Get back here, you're not in a good condition." But Casey shrieked when Zeke got to his feet.

"Leave me alone. Don't hurt me, please!" His body suddenly shook violently as sweat broke through his pores and every single bone in him ached. All of sudden Casey felt so exhausted and all the things he wanted to do were just lie down, close his eyes, and sleep. But the other boy's voice was heard again.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Casey." Zeke was all anguish and despair.

"No…" But Casey had no strength anymore to even finish his sentence. He simply plummeted to the ground and rolled into a ball. Whatever the crazy boy was going to do to him, he thought blearily, he did not have the energy to stop it. Let him do whatever he wanted. _Just let him…_

All of a sudden a blaring sound of a car tore the night's silence into pieces. The brake screeched and the car pulled up across the street where Zeke and Casey were. Several boys – from the football team, Zeke recognized – jumped out of the car.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zeke jumped forward and stood still in front of Casey's body, safeguarding him from the unwanted newcomers. Zeke's stance looked very much like a mother tiger protecting her cub. And this _cub_ was absolutely oblivious of the danger that was approaching him.

"_Hoy_, Zeke." Zeke shot a glare toward a boy before him.

"Yeah, Gabe, any problem?" Zeke did not know which one was worse: for Gabe and his companions to grab him and Casey and turn them into alien, or for them to beat them both into pulp. Zeke knew it was not a problem at all for these guys to act upon either action.

Yet not one of those football players sprang into action already. Gabe even stopped and whispered something to one of his friends.

"Gabe?" said Zeke wearily. "Do us a favor, ok, and get the hell out of here."

The well-built young man turned his attention back to Zeke. "Hey, Zeke. Your friend down there doesn't seem well. Need help to bring him home?"

Soft lines began to become visible on Zeke's brow. Weary turned to wary, Zeke did not buy this one bit. "Go away," he hissed. "We don't need your help, hideous creature. And Casey won't need your _help_, either." The lanky, tall boy slowly turned around and bent down to reach for Casey. He had to calculate everything in case these people suddenly set upon them. However, no one moved an inch seeing how tense Zeke was.

Then someone else slid out of the car. Zeke's eyes widened to see Stan.

"Zeke, you can't be serious. We know we were sometimes too rough to Casey – and I have no idea you are that concerned to him – but calling us _hideous creature_ is just too much."

"What do you expect?" spat Zeke. "For us to simply succumb into your clutches? Over my dead body, Stan."

"No, you don't understand, buddy—"

"Don't _buddy_ me."

"Alright, alright." Stan raised both hands in resignation, glancing briefly to Gabe's direction, and Gabe gazed back at him. "You've got to believe us. We were totally baffled. School is a mess. Some classes are cluttered, the pool is crimson red with – _blood_? And then the burning in the parking lot, creepy things at the basketball court, and so on, and so forth. What has happened, Zeke?"

The Tyler thought he was experiencing a bout of _déjà vu_ as perplexity bowled into him once more just like when Casey asked him the similar question.

Apparently Stan was not finished yet.

"On the streets people are wandering about, asking each other like some barmy crowds. I guess they look – they all look as though they've just wakened from a long nap. I – I feel the same way, Zeke."

Zeke could only stand there in incredulity, frown deepening, breath heavy. _Something was terribly wrong_, he pondered. But with them seemingly not recalling what had come about, perhaps it was safe enough now to get Casey. Zeke took his chances and stooped to gather Casey up. He was right. Nothing happened.

It was Gabe's turn to open his mouth.

"Me too, Zeke. I'm sorry if I was too cruel to Casey, but I was serious just now. He doesn't look fine. Let me help, Zeke."

The other boy shook his head slowly. "But just now you arrived all noisy and boisterous in your car. What was that supposed to mean?"

Stan sighed. "Zeke, we saw someone – you – squatting over him. We thought you must be in trouble. We wanted to get here as fast as we could to offer some help."

With his hands and arms full of Casey, Zeke stared at the boys cautiously, but also curiously. Were they really true to their words?

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Nothing else would be able to capture Zeke's attention but Casey, not Mr. Furlong with a heavy bandage around his severed fingers or other students who had been behaving like _real students_ now, all so hard-working and serious in their study, listening to whatever their teachers spoon-fed them, busily scribbling in their now carefully-kept notebooks, almost simultaneously raising their hands every time the teachers threw questions to them or asked if any of them had questions. Not that Zeke was surprised with this uncanny behavior – funny that he should call this _uncanny_. Weren't these all every student should do at school?

The sight his eyes were fixed to was not the most normal thing, either, at least if you were talking about _Casey_. The boy was not supposed to be this cheery, frolicking from one friend to another, joking around with the likes of Gabe and nearly ignoring Zeke, who shifted restlessly in his chair. _Casey ought not to do that_, thought Zeke miserably, _to be utterly heedless to the danger that was surely lurking behind all this sugar-coated conviviality_.

But then Zeke could not disregard what had happened when he, together with Stan and Gabe and the other football players, brought Casey home that night. Casey's dad, Frank, had seemed to be genuinely concerned with his son's wellbeing, taking him from Zeke's hands immediately when he opened the door.

_"Oh Casey, are you alright? Case – Casey, please wake up, son."_

Zeke had never known Casey's parents, but he _knew_ how boys were and how Casey was treated at school. The kid would not have behaved so awkwardly in the first place if things had been smooth for him at home.

_And those boys had been suspiciously amiable, too. "He'll be just fine, Mr. Connor," Stan spoke up. "I've checked him. Apparently he's just worn out. A little rest would help."_

Check? _Check my ass_, Zeke grumbled. He did not even allow anyone to touch Casey. Zeke had seated himself in the passenger's seat at the front in Stan's car, not caring if he felt less comfortable there with an unconscious Casey curling up on his lap.

_"Yeah, we're just so thankful for that." Zeke's eyes turned into slits at Gabe's sweet voice. But what could he do, seeing that the Connors had placed their trust on those people?_

The class door cracked open and Zeke looked at it involuntarily simply because Casey had shifted his eyes to its direction, too. Delilah stepped in, and Zeke quickly glanced back to Casey, and felt his blood curdle as he recognized something in the boy's eyes. _Longing. Affection_. Zeke knew Casey had crushed on this school magazine's chief editor for so long, and despite everything, he secretly wanted to see how Delilah would act toward Casey now.

"Hi, Casey!" Delilah smiled sweetly to the boy. Casey's eyes widened and he gulped nervously. He really did not have any reasons to feel uneasy, though, for the next thing he knew Delilah was approaching him with her usual relaxed gaits, and gave a small peck on his cheek. "You feel much better now?"

Casey's cheeks turned rosy and his lips curled into a small smile before bowing his head and reaching out to Delilah to hug her gently.

"I do. Thanks, Del."

"Hey, I didn't do anything." Delilah's laugh was still easy on ears. She threw her head back a little, and Zeke could see how Casey's eyes were transfixed to the smooth column of Del's neck.

"By the way, Case, how about some baked tofu?" Casey's eyes flickered at the offer.

Zeke's ears perked up at once. Out? With Delilah? Well, don't be too hasty, everybody. Delilah was once taken by the alien, too, and no matter what had happened and the fact that the queen had perished now, with all the strangeness happening around him, Zeke would not be easy to trust Delilah again, or any other previously infected people. He rose from his chair and rushed to Casey's side.

"Casey," Zeke tried to sound calm, taking the other boy's upper arm. "I need you to… uh, help me with these physics problems."

Casey's head whirled swiftly as he felt pressure on his arm.

"Zeke…?" He looked completely perplexed. But Zeke did not give him a chance.

"Come on," he practically wrenched Casey out of the circle comprised by the boy's _friends_, and dragged him toward the door, not bothering to care about the quizzical looks coming from Delilah, Gabe, and every single student there.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zeke pulled up his car exactly in front of the gate of Casey's house. He leaned to the steering wheel, staring wordlessly as Casey clicked open the safety belt and unlocked the car door. The boy turned to him.

"Really, Zeke. You don't need to do this. I can always take the bus." Casey's voice was still as cheery as before. He let out a geeky guffaw. "Nothing will happen to me, don't you think so?"

Zeke was wondering if Casey remembered at all how those other boys usually treated him, or how they _used to_ treat him – Zeke also wondered if things would get back to _normal_. But what was normal? That all those jocks beat up Casey again? Shouldn't he feel bad thinking, even _hoping_, for that to happen? But right now Zeke was willing to pay anything to have all those old times returned to their little town, Herrington. It had been much easier to deal with all those nasty guys, for that was the _true them_. Zeke was not sure about their new faces, if they were for real or not.

And Casey's question just now made Zeke scared. Those people were certainly not themselves. Did they even realize that Casey had slain their queen? What would happen if they found that out? Zeke shivered inwardly before his mind caught a sight of a faint silver lining behind the dark, thick clouds. Ah, he would… He had to…

"Zeke," said Casey softly, patting his friend's arm gently. Zeke jumped to find Casey had been standing out of the window on his side of the car. "Go home. You need to rest. I see you look distraught for the last couple of days. You even zoned out a moment ago."

Suddenly Zeke grabbed Casey's lean wrist and – _pleaded_. That was right. He was pleading. He must have lost it.

"Casey," he was breathing fast and short. "Please don't get into your house." Zeke's eyes strayed wildly to the direction of the front door and went back to the pallid boy before him. "Please, please come with me to my house—"

"Zeke?"

"You can stay there, you can sleep there. You can have my clothes to get changed."

"Zeke, let go…"

"Don't you dare step into that house of yours, damn it! It's - it's evil! Its' dangerous!"

"Zeke, you're hurting me!"

Casey yanked his hand off Zeke's wringing grip, snatching it so hard he almost fell backward.

"Oh, God!" Gasping, Zeke fumbled to open the car door and staggered out. "Casey, good Lord, I'm so sorry!"

But he was too late and too much, and he frightened the smaller boy to death. Casey dashed through the gate and secured the padlock that previously had just hung in its place. Now there was no way Zeke could get inside the front yard, unless he climbed up the wooden fence that was actually not too high for him. But Zeke did not want to scare Casey even more. What he had just done was bad enough.

"Go home, Zeke," Casey turned back at the door, and this time there was slight tremor in that tiny voice. Hearing it, Zeke shuddered as he realized there was a spark of hope in his heart. That was the _real_ Casey for him. How wicked of him, thought Zeke grimly, to wish for a constantly afraid boy to re-emerge. But that was not what he meant at all.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

Whirling around, Casey grasped the doorknob, a bit too callously. He struggled to calm himself down, regulating his breath, and in the process a funny feeling was flooding into himself. It was as if he recognized this – this feeling of panic, of always having this fear inside of him. But why? His life was not what he called a sad, unfulfilled one. He had parents who loved him and were willing to do anything for his sake. His mom was always home, making sure Casey was not deprived of anything, cooking him anything he asked, especially that meat loaf with cinnamon sauce, his favorite. Casey's dad, despite the fact that he was sometimes too busy with his work, always managed to spare his son some time at the weekend simply to play some games in the computer.

At least that was what Casey knew of his life, until now. Until there were these strange hunches that seemed to want to break the wall in his heart and made him _think_ that those things about his family were not right.

Casey stuttered a breath as he clicked the door open, assuring himself that everything was just all right. He was still happy and his family were always there, at the other side of this door, for him. Why did Zeke tell him that his house was evil? Zeke was certainly delusional.

Two pairs of smiling eyes welcomed him at the sitting room and Casey smiled at them. _Who is that with my mother?_ Casey asked himself behind his smile-painted lips.

"Hi, love," greeted his mother, rising from the couch, and she hugged him. "How's school?" asked her while Casey hugged him back.

Casey withdrew. His face had changed back to its shiny, happy one.

"It's great, mom, as always. School is always fun, and I really enjoy my friends' company. They're the best." His eyes darted over his mother's shoulder to a boy sitting stiffly in the couch. "Is he going to join us at Herrington High?"

"Ah." Casey's mother shifted a little, still smiling. "This is Ryan. Ryan Hawkins. He's new here. His parents sent him to that school but they didn't arrange where he should stay."

Casey beamed. "A new friend! Good."

"Yes," his mother carried on. "He wandered until he got to this neighborhood, and when I asked if he'd like to stay here, he looked so thankful."

"I am thankful," Ryan interrupted, offering his hand to Casey. Casey took the hand and shook it warmheartedly. "Hi, umm…"

"It's Casey," Casey giggled. "Casey _Connor_, just in case my mom hasn't even told that to you."

"She has," Ryan blushed. "Nice to meet you, Casey."

"Nice to meet you, too." Casey looked more closely at the other boy. Hmm. He would not be too shy after he got to Herrington High, thought Casey as he eyed the boy who was skinny and rather taller than him. Casey would make sure of that. He already had a liking toward this blond, curly-haired lad. "You don't happen to be at the senior year, do you?"

"Actually I do," replied Ryan, slowly taking his hand back from Casey's grasp.

"Oh, that's even better!" Casey exclaimed. They could be in the same class for several subjects. Casey's smile widened as his mother embraced his shoulder from behind.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

Zeke was determined. He might go home now just like what Casey told him, or later. But he would always get back again. He should not leave Casey alone even with his parents. He must not.

But now there was something he had to do first, something that he should have done earlier ever since he spotted all that odd behavior around him. Revving his car up and making a sharp turning around the corner, Zeke raced his GTO as fast as he could. He remembered, though, how Delilah had trashed all the supply for the scat. Damn. Lucky for him, though, he still had some raw materials in his room. It was just that there had not been time to put them all together that night.

Casey took Ryan to a room in the basement. His mom told him that Ryan could stay there, and Casey could not agree more. Their house was really not that big and they had only three bedrooms: one master bedroom, another Casey's, and the other one was a guest room where his grandma usually slept in if she came over. She was not here at the moment, but the room was full with Casey's father's piles of paper and books.

Casey opened the door for Ryan, turned on the light, and let the other boy step inside first. Ryan put his backpack against the wall near the door and looked around. There was not much there but a small divan and a simple-looking table. Even half of the window was under the ground so Ryan could only see outside if he stood on his toes or climbed up a chair, which the room did not have. 

"Do you like it?" Casey broke the silence. Ryan gasped a little and turned to Casey with a smile.

"I just feel so grateful. I wouldn't have known what to do had I…"

"I'm sure everyone in the neighborhood would be as willing to accept you in their house, Ryan," Casey smiled, succeeding in making Ryan blush, and in turn made Casey watch him with full interest. "Especially since you're such a gorgeous boy." Ryan blushed even more.

"Alright, alright," he sighed meekly, plunging himself to the bed. "I will admit that this is the first house I dared to step into. Besides, your mom was so kind as to ask me stuff. No one I met on the street hardly paid me any heed."

"Nooo," teased Casey even more. "You have to admit also that you actually didn't meet anyone on the street."

Ryan snorted. His thin lips curved delightfully. Casey sat beside him, feeling like crushing them with his. He leaned forward.

"You didn't, did you?"

"Alright, alright," repeated Ryan, laughing openly now. "You little smart ass. Tell me, is everyone at the school like you?"

Casey smiled widely, lying back on his elbows. "You will love Herrington High. Everyone is such fun, but hardworking, too. But you shouldn't worry. Even our teachers are fun." Suddenly something flashed in his mind, and Casey froze.

"What is it?" Ryan turned somber at the change of his new friend's stance.

Casey blinked, casting a bleary gaze toward Ryan.

"Nope, nothing. I just remember … this friend of mine. He used to be a good buddy, but he's been acting so strange lately."

Ryan looked intrigued.

"Yeah? Who's that? What's the name?"

"Zeke," said Casey grimly. "Zeke Tyler."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

Startled, Casey jerked up. He blinked away his sleepiness, looking around, not immediately knowing where he was, and frowned at the sight of an unfamiliar, grinning face looming over his.

"Are you awake yet?" smiled Ryan.

Casey huffed as he recalled where he was and who the person before him was. Swirling his head to the window he asked, "What noise is that?"

Ryan curled his nose. "Noise? What noise?"

"A car. Is that my dad?"

"Your dad came several hours ago."

That made Casey's frown go deeper. "What? How long have I slept? What time is it?"

Ryan scuffled back and sat on his heels. This time it was his turn to watch Casey with deep interest.

"It's almost dinner. I dared not wake you up, you know. You looked so serene sleeping." He did not elaborate, by the way, the fact how he had been gazing at Casey while the boy was slumbering. How he had not even stirred for a second.

Casey jumped off the bed, ignoring the queasy feeling in his stomach. But he remembered Ryan was their guest now and he had to be polite to their guests – didn't he? So he forced himself to smile back.

"That's alright." Casey rushed to the door. "Mm – I have to go now." He barely noticed Ryan's resigned sigh.

Outside it was dark already but Casey could still spot a car behind the shadow of a tree not far from his house. He closed the door quietly, not wanting to disturb his parents. Luckily they were in the house somewhere – in the bedroom? – so he did not have to explain himself.

Casey crept toward the car. After some time he realized it was Zeke's Mustang. _What is it now?_

From behind he could make out Zeke's shape sitting behind the wheel. The boy literally jumped when Casey rapped the window with his knuckles.

"Casey!" Zeke rolled down the car window.

"What're you doing here?" Casey hissed, heedless to Zeke's reaction.

"Casey, get in the car." The heedlessness was infectious.

"What? No."

"Case –" Zeke did not want to threaten the boy or anything, but he really needed Casey to comply with him. Obviously the lad was not going to, seeing that he even stepped away from the car. Zeke went out.

"Connor, don't make me force you."

"What do you want, Zeke?" There was a slight tremor in Casey's voice, and this time it did not make Zeke happy at all. His heart clenched to see that Casey was afraid of him.

Casey felt sweat break on his brow and his hands were all cold. His heart beat so fast he thought he would pass out anytime. He did not remember Zeke ever being harsh to him like this, but he knew the boy was not a bad person. Casey could easily trust him just as he trusted every single friend at school. What was this all about?

But first of all he needed to save himself from the taller boy, who in the mean time had drawn nearer and nearer toward him.

"Z-zeke…" Casey whimpered. Before he knew it, a hand lashed out and his wrist was trapped in its unyielding clutch. "Let… go! Let me go!" But it was all hopeless, all he did, trying to shake the hand off his. He could not release himself. Zeke would not let him go.

A shriek tore out of Casey's mouth when Zeke suddenly whirled him around and squashed his hand to the small of his back. Another hand clamped over Casey's mouth.

"I just want you to get in the car, Casey," Zeke whispered in Casey's ear. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you. Now come."

Zeke did not realize that he had hurt Casey and frightened him. Shaking violently, Casey could only submit as he was dragged into the car.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9 to 24

AN: I post all the remaining of the chapters from 9 to 24 because I'm not sure if I can do it one by one. This is violent and some parts are rated hard R. Be warned.

Thank you for reading.

**Chapter 9**

Zeke felt rather than heard Casey grunt as he maneuvered them both to the passenger seat at the back.

"Huh?" said Zeke in a low voice, and lowered his hand from Casey's mouth. Casey huffed a short breath and turned slightly to Zeke.

He stammered, "Y-you don't have to do that. I won't make a sound."

Zeke felt a stab at his heart, and he released Casey's wrist as well.

That should be true, shouldn't it, that Casey would not deceive him? He trusted Casey; he always did. What on heaven's sake was he doing? Zeke was even this close to twist Casey's hand in his desperate attempt to get the boy into the car quickly and quietly. He must have looked insane, but what else should he do? There was something he needed to know.

Zeke gave a small nudge at Casey's shoulder. "Sorry, Case," he muttered.

Casey flashed a small smile as if to say that it was okay, and shifted around to get in the car. Stooping slightly, Zeke stared dazedly at the other boy as Casey sat himself there, slipping his hands neatly between his knees, shoulders slumped, and doe eyes blinked innocently toward Zeke. Zeke swallowed hard. Casey looked too much like a lamb about to be offered to a god. Ignoring sudden, subtle, embarrassing stirring in his groin, Zeke stepped into the car.

The tiny lamb shook as Zeke reached something at his own back pocket, while one hand was raised as a resigned gesture. "Trust me, Casey," he said slowly. "I won't hurt you. I just…"

Casey stiffened and his eyes bulged out as Zeke unhurriedly brought his hand toward him. In it was…

"You want to kill me, Zeke?" Casey quivered, thinking that it was a knife in Zeke's hand.

Zeke's jaw dropped. "What? No." He showed a blue-capped pen to Casey. "Don't you remember? It's scat. I want you to take it now."

Casey tilted his head sideways, but his uneasiness stayed. "What's scat? What do you want me to do?"

It was just so weird, thought Zeke. It was as if some parts of Casey's past had vanished.

"It's – uh – it's, well, it's just caffeine, and some powder. You will… you will simply sniff it, Casey."

The other boy was taken aback, and looked furious.

"What? No way! I don't do drugs. And I'll never take anything from you." His eyes suddenly shone some kind of sorrow. "Zeke, is that what you do?"

His hand floating in the air with his most trusted remedy against those aliens, at first Zeke seemed as despaired as Casey. But determination returned slowly. It was now, or never. He slid forward.

And Casey skated backward, warily.

"You will take it, with or without your permission, Casey." Zeke uncapped the pen and brought it under Casey's nose. "Take it. Now. Sniff it."

"No!"

TBC

**Chapter 10**

Casey's ordeal was not without audience. Ryan, who had stayed inside for several moments, eventually decided to follow Casey outside as there were no signs of him returning soon. At first Ryan had intended to help Casey when a bigger boy got out of the car that seemed to be waiting near the house, but Ryan went to hide behind the hedges when a soft breeze sent Casey's faint whimper his way. It was faint, too faint for a supposedly normal person. But Ryan could place it clearly, the weak _Zeke…_

So this _was_ Zeke.

Hands balled into fists, arms stiff on his sides, Casey eyed Zeke askance; tears warm in his eyes, threatening to break loose.

"No," Casey's lower lip trembled. He could not understand Zeke. At first he thought there would be no harm coming from this guy. What – what did he actually want from Casey? The occurrence that was happening made Casey long to go back again to the middle of his other schoolmates who always cared for him and made sure that nothing would hurt him. Or perhaps, if that was not too much to ask, could he be with Ryan again?

Ryan always spoke softly to him and – this Casey knew – was ever watchful while he was asleep. Ryan did not know that Casey knew, or that was what Casey thought. But no matter what, Casey felt soothed and relaxed – so relaxed that he did not realize the day had turned into the night.

And he pined for that kind of gentleness now, instead of being in the hands of Zeke, who had shoved forward now with that transparent pen full of white substance inside it. It was just useless to try to reason with Zeke.

"Go away! Go a… mmp!"

Zeke's hand was far from gentle when it clamped – again – over Casey's mouth, effectively cutting off the boy's screaming and partly obstructing his breathing. Casey's eyes widened in panic and he began to twist about. But Zeke, who was much stronger than him, squashed him to the car seat, and even Casey's flailing free hands could do little to help their owner.

Zeke waited for some moments until all Casey could do was to breathe through his nose. When the time came, when Zeke finally lifted his pen and motioned it toward him, Casey could do nothing but resign. He tried to hold his breath but he knew it was a losing battle. Eyes fluttering shut, Casey drew a deep breath, and with it, the scat Zeke had struggled to have him take it.

It did not happen. There was no panic strike like what Delilah had after she sniffed a little of his stuff. There were no maggots swimming under Casey's skin that showed that there was something inside that friend of his. There was no sudden freeze on Casey's face turning blue and purple.

There was nothing.

Only those blue eyes turning clouded all of a sudden, and heaving wheeze coming from both Casey's nose and mouth. Zeke released him at once, leaving the other boy to slump weakly against the back of the seat. Zeke could not believe what he saw. There was no alien inside Casey's body? What, then, explained all the boy's weirdness?

Casey threw a hand over his brow and sighed deeply.

"What did you do to me, Zeke?" he mumbled. "My head hurts. I – I can barely see."

That was even stranger. Casey had had a taste of the scat before, and he showed more resilience then. Why did he look worse now?

Casey scuffled toward the door on the other side, crawling farther away from Zeke. "I – I'm gonna be sick." Zeke merely froze at the sight of Casey's blanching face as it turned away from him, as Casey collapsed on the hard surface of the road.

Well, he should not have done that, letting Casey go just like that.

And giving up the boy to the hands of another boy who unexpectedly had been waiting at the vicinity of Zeke's mustang and gladly picked Casey up.

"Ryan?" Casey looked up with his bleary eyes. "Thank God."

TBC

**Chapter 11**

There was Del, walking slowly past him. But when she looked at him, her eyes turned pink, and then red, and then blood red, and finally they became utterly claret. Del worked her mouth into a sharp sneer, so unlike her cynical smile every time she saw him, before two pointed fangs bared themselves.

Casey gasped and swirled around.

And he was met with Stan. Stan – one of the jocks but apparently he was not this time. There was a fishing pole in his both hands and he was swinging it as if he were about to throw it into the water. But there was no water surrounding him and Casey, and Casey suddenly felt the hook catch the back of his collar and himself drift up. At first he simply submitted, letting himself be taken up, up, up into the sky. It kind of reminded Casey when he was a child and his father swung him around like an aeroplane. But soon as his head began to spin, Casey started to plead for Stan to let him go. Yet the other boy seemed totally oblivious to Casey's frightened pleas, even when his voice had risen and risen and risen…

Casey screamed and suddenly he was swimming in the clouds, hands paddling in the air in panic, when one of them was caught by a long, slimy tentacle.

_Come with me_, it whispered. Casey swiveled back and forth, trying to locate anyone – or anything – that had spoken to him. He also tugged at his hand; the tentacle was still fast encircling his wrist but he still could not see anything.

_You'll be with us. Be one of us. We had you once and we'd never let go._

Casey did not understand any of this. He twisted – but suddenly he was on a bed. Trying to open eyes he did not realize were closed, Casey was immediately drowned into Ryan's ocean blue eyes.

"You're awake," greeted Ryan silkily. Casey smiled, sleepily, though he did not feel as if he had just been sleeping.

"Wherreammi?" Realizing having mumbled out the words, he tried again. "Where—"

"Ssh," shushed Ryan. "You're still in my room. You'll be alright, little one." Ryan smoothed Casey's hair back.

"Alright? Why?"

Ryan stared at him as though he were some kind of a funny pony. "You tell me, Casey. What has that boy out there given you?"

"I don't know—what boy?"

Ryan chuckled a little. He knew it was not going to be easy.

"Casey, you can't forget what just happened to you, can you?"

But it was as dark as a _conte_ Casey's world was. And the dreams he just had, were they just dreams? Casey shook his head in despair.

"I have no idea. My head hurts and I feel nauseous. May I go back to my room?"

Smiling, Ryan shook his head as well.

"You can't even walk, Casey. You're right. You're too sick to move." A knock interrupted them and Ryan jumped up. "Allow me."

Ryan opened the door only into a slit and saw Casey's mother standing outside the room. He immediately stepped out and closed the door behind him.

"Yes, Mrs. Connor?"

The woman smiled shyly. "Umm. I just wonder if Casey's still with you. We're having dinner in a moment. Oh, and you're invited, you know." She added the last part hurriedly.

Ryan lifted his eyebrows before his face turned into a deep frown.

"Casey? Haven't seen him for the last couple of minutes."

"What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Connor, a tinge of panic in her voice.

"I don't know where he is, Mrs. Connor. But just now I saw a car passing by. A mustang or something."

"What are you saying? Do you mean Casey's going somewhere?"

"I honestly don't know. He is probably with his friends now."

TBC

**Chapter 12**

Zeke could not erase the picture of Casey in that boy, _Ryan_'s clutches. Yeah, he could see that Casey seemed to be grabbed or captured or whatever, despite the relieved – almost longing – tone in his calling Ryan just now. Zeke shuddered to recall the way Casey's sagging body was literally imprisoned by Ryan's strong arm by the waist, while a hand was closing in on Casey's throat.

_"Let him go." Zeke could not help but feel surprised at the vulnerability in his voice. _

"No, Zeke… right? Not before you give me whatever you gave him and tell me what it is."

Zeke staggered beside his car. Mouth gapping. Sweat breaking out on his brow. This should not be what he was thinking. Ryan could not be something like that…

"I—" he croaked. "I don't have it with me now." It was not true, but—

"I don't believe you, that's what I know," replied Ryan calmly. "I can beat you up so you'll give it to me but I'd rather see you squirm at your lover's pain." To Zeke's alarm, he noticed how Ryan's hand started to squeeze Casey's throat. A low, suffocated sound was emitted from Casey's involuntarily opened mouth. Zeke shook his head slowly.

"You won't… You can't…" And he jerked forward when Casey squeaked in distress. "Ryan!"

The boy merely sneered. "Oh yes, I can. But I can see that it's you who won't give it up. That's too bad. So, so long."

Oh no.

Ryan could not take Casey away from him. He would – he would give anything as long as he had his Casey back. He would – even if all those aliens returned?

Zeke halted in place.

Would he? Would Casey be worth it?

Zeke slammed the dashboard of his car. What kind of a thought was it? How could he think that Casey might not be worth it? That Casey was not important compared to all those people who might fall prey to the hands of an alien one more time? Zeke squeezed his eyes shut, barely realizing hot tears that pricked through his eyelashes, and shot them open again at once. He must do something, quickly. He could not – did not want to – imagine what that bastard Ryan might have done to his Casey.

TBC

**Chapter 13**

_It feels like a lightning has just struck you in the eye – perhaps because something has just speared into your eye. It reels you for a fleeting moment and almost sends the insides of your stomach come out of your mouth. Only that you are in fact very strong, and nothing as small as this can beat the hell out of you. You blink a little, swallow a little, before bit by bit some parts of you are overwhelmed with anger. Wrath. And you can see that the reason of all this… discomfort is sprawling about before you. And he is a mere boy. There's nothing special about him. You cannot be defeated. You just can't. You… _

Suddenly a piercing shriek you belatedly realize is yours comes out of your orifice. It hurts! It's cold! It's … numb. You cannot feel anything anymore. Are you fading? Is the sight of the panting boy opposite you slowly turning into darkness?

Can you die?

Casey gasped as he opened his eyes. That was the weirdest dream he had ever had. He just saw _himself_ wheezing and bone-tired with his face scarred and damp with sweat. What was that supposed to mean?

There was a derisive chuckle from the direction of his feet and Casey blinked. Standing at the foot of the bed with arms folded was Ryan. But unlike before, the other boy looked far from kind and compassionate.

"Don't you understand, Casey? Don't you finally get what really happens to you?"

Head still spinning thanks to the scat Zeke made him sniff, Casey's face contorted with confusion. He stirred a little in his position lying on his back on the bed as Ryan slowly approached him.

"Did you feel the hurt, Casey? The cold? The realization of being _dying_?"

Casey did not get it. Had not got it. Ryan just mentioned things he witnessed in his dream, or rather, things he did feel. But then he saw himself there. So, whose feeling was it that he felt?

And how did Ryan know about that?

Ryan's laugh got louder, and he pushed Casey to lie on his side. Just now Casey realized that his hands were bound on his back.

"R-ryan?" he stammered, squirming a bit.

"Quiet." Ryan reached for Casey's wrists and tightened the cord, making Casey groan. And when he spoke again, Ryan's voice was as dark as the night sky in the desert.

"I know everything about it – no, don't ask me how I can read your mind. I know what happened to Marybeth – and no. Don't ask me how I know about her either. I just know everything, including your part in the matter."

Casey's blood chilled at the last thing Ryan said.

"And I seriously think you should pay for that, Casey."

TBC

**Chapter 14**

Zeke lifted a hand and tentatively knocked at the door of the Connors' house. After several knocks it cracked open. A lady who looked quite distraught gazed at him with her wide eyes that reminded him of someone.

After some time those gazes turned to recognition.

"You… you are a friend of Casey's!" Her voice was almost a hiss. Almost… for Zeke could still hear its gentleness. The boy nodded nervously.

"I… am. May I see him now, please?" He was frightened by his own pleading tone. Don't – don't let the worst thing happen to Casey.

But before he knew it, Casey's mother had leapt forward and twisted Zeke's ear, making him yelp in pain.

"Where is Casey?" she screamed. "Where did you take my boy? Huh? Huh? Bring him back here, or I'll call the cop!"

Amidst the stinging ache at his ear, Zeke could process the new information Mrs. Connor told him unintentionally. Casey was missing? What garbage was she talking about? Zeke saw himself that twat Ryan dragged Casey inside the house. But his own mother thought he was missing? Zeke's brow grew tens of folds. Or did Casey's own mother have bad intentions toward him? That was impossible. Zeke whimpered when the pinch at his ear got tighter.

"Please – ouch! I know nothing where Casey is now." He jumped a bit at the pain and his eyes were squeezed shut. "Let me go, please. Please! Ouch!"

Zeke reached to Casey's mom's hand and tried to wrench it away. But the strength of a furious mother was hard to surpass. And then he heard another voice – a man's – and his eyes flew open.

"Who is it, dear?"

Apparently it was Casey's dad. The mother told him about Zeke and _who_ he really was – the one who abducted their son. Zeke winced at the words, but suddenly he realized something. Casey's mom was distracted enough while she was talking – and that was all Zeke needed. He snatched himself backward, and slammed hard on the floor. Some bones could get cracked but Zeke did not care. He scrambled away as two pairs of hands lunged to him.

"No!" Zeke could not help himself, yelling, and dashed away.

TBC

**Chapter 15**

"Oh no, I'm not gonna beat you up – yet." Ryan chuckled softly, shoving a wad of Casey's own sock into the boy's mouth.

Casey shivered at that – the fact that Ryan could read his mind, which had been wondering what the other one would do to him – beat him up? – and the sour taste of his sock on his tongue. Worse thing was that Casey had remembered everything now: Marybeth, the gigantic squid, the alien queen – in other words, Marybeth, too – how he had slain it, how the entire town had been taken by it, and how _Zeke_ was the only one not. And Casey had not imagined it all for Ryan himself bore it out then.

"Do you know why you seemed to forget those things before this, Casey?" Ryan smirked. Casey could only shake his head in apprehension.

"Why, Marybeth took you, too, didn't she, even if it was only for half a minute before she breathed her last breath. But she was inside you, Casey, and it was only fair that you got to get the effect, though not for long."

_Sinking onto the hard pavement by the road, Zeke laid Casey's head carefully on his lap. What now? He could not imagine walking while carrying Casey all the way to the Connors' or his house. Not with the boy still out cold. But Zeke was not sure, either, if Casey would be strong enough to walk when he came to. Zeke's head was still buzzing with indecision when he felt a hand tugging at his shirtsleeve. _

"Casey!" Zeke had never been happier to see his friend stare at him openly. "How are you, man?"

"W – w…" Casey sounded so parched but Zeke did not have any water to alleviate the discomfort.

"What is it?" Zeke urged. All he could do was bring himself closer to the boy.

Casey swallowed, closing his eyes briefly, and parted his lips.

"Where… where are we? What has happened?"

Casey blinked. He felt like seeing again events that happened that night. It was after he stabbed the queen alien's eyes and some spawns flew over to his face, and suddenly nothing. He remembered nothing, or his memory had then _played_ something that had never actually happened. Something the alien intended them to think and to feel.

"That's right," Reading Casey's mind again, Ryan slowly crawled up to the bed, grasped Casey's twig-skinny thighs, put them close together, and sat straddling Casey's legs. Casey wanted it so much to slither as far away as he could from Ryan's hands, but with his legs imprisoned under that boy's body and his own upper part arching with his bound hands pinned underneath, he really could not move much.

"Those people – your friends, the school faculty, your parents, neighbors, and all the others – had been kept under control for quite a while. You don't expect to have them freed once the queen died, do you? Surely you don't live in a fairy tale world."

This all sounded too creepy. But, but, like him, they would come to their senses sooner or later, wouldn't they?

Ryan threw his head back, laughing. Casey could not help but think that those loose curls on Ryan's forehead looked cute.

"You're cute, too, Casey. Too cute, even. Of course they'd remember who they are and what has really happened. But – I won't allow it."

Suddenly Ryan's clear blue eyes gleamed and darkened.

"I won't allow it," he repeated. "Marybeth has worked so hard it would be such a pity to let it all come to waste. I'd make sure none of them will ever go back again. Including you." Ryan leaned down to Casey's face, pinching a stuffed cheek. "Only, perhaps, I'll spend some time having fun with you while you're still fully aware who you really are."

"It will be truly rewarding, I believe, to break a person who has successfully beaten my fellow worker."

TBC

**Chapter 16**

Casey hated it. He hated running, though he _would_ run if his life depended on it. Casey hated running because he detested the feeling of helplessness that came with it. _Running for your life_. Been there, done that, and Casey recalled the tug within his heart to just surrender, but of course he couldn't do that.

Yet the Connor boy realized it would be better to run with that feeling, instead of only having it without being able to run at all. It would be much, _much_ better to slip and tumble amongst the folding bleachers, anything to get away from _it_.

And not merely lying here, waiting for the inevitable to come to turn him into an alien.

Casey gasped, and began to twist in earnest. That predatory look in Ryan's eyes was so intense it made him almost inhuman – Casey laughed inside at the irony. Needless to say, Ryan _was_ inhuman to begin with. And it could not be compared with the look in Gabe and his friends' eyes every time they caught the sight of Casey or in Delilah's eyes when she had been taken…

_Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!_

If only he could scream now. But with the sock in his mouth, Casey could only writhe in terror when Ryan's hands fumbled with the top button of his shirt. W-what would he do? Casey blinked away the tears that were suddenly surfacing. Ryan sneered cruelly.

"Don't you find me attractive, Casey?" Ryan asked in a low voice. He let go of Casey's shirt now with the two top buttons undone, smoothing his curls back, looking down to himself. "I have to admit I like this body. I've had a lot of fun with it. I wonder why Marybeth chose to be… Marybeth." He chuckled a little. "I think the outer shell that I have is much, much more… enticing, just like yours."

Casey's eyes widened in panic. He did not want his body to be a mere _outer shell_.

"Isn't it?" asked Ryan. Casey looked at him in confusion. "Isn't it more enticing?" Ryan elaborated, and began to divest himself of his own shirt, much to Casey's dismay. A plane of fair, hairless chest was soon laid bare before the Connor's eyes, and Ryan tossed his shirt across the room, tucking his thumbs into the back pockets of his jeans, and made a grinding motion with his hips.

Casey made a loud gulping noise, squirming and pulling his legs from between Ryan's knees, before he suddenly saw stars. His body stiffened when it dawned in him that Ryan had just backhanded him, hard.

"I didn't ask you if you liked what you saw in me or not." Ryan's voice was suddenly ice cold. "Never think you can get away from me. I own you. Your life's been forfeit when you decided to kill Marybeth."

TBC

**Chapter 17**

It might be a dreadful feeling to think that Casey' parents had accused him of abducting their son. That would mean the boy could be anywhere at all with that evil, Ryan. But then could it be that Ryan had lied to them while he actually kept Casey inside? Zeke almost felt certain that both Ryan and Casey were still in the house. He had been watching over it and so far no one had left.

Zeke was feeling his back pocket for some supplies of scat he was sure he still had them there. But they weren't. Sighing, Zeke stepped out of the shadow where he had been hiding and crept to the direction of his car, after seeing that the Connors were no longer outside of the house.

"There you go," he hissed to himself, grabbing some from under his seat. Putting them carefully into his front pocket, Zeke held one in his hand as a weapon.

He jumped over the hedge at the back of the Connor's house, careful not to make too much noise. Zeke would try to get into the house from the back door. Casey was somewhere in one of the rooms. Zeke was positive about that.

_The slamming of the door of the restroom's stall almost made Zeke jump himself. His breath was raspy when he snarled. _

"I told you not to go by school bus anymore, didn't I?"

Yeah, you can yell at me as much as you like, instead of giving me comfort. _Casey rolled his eyes in pain as well as annoyance as he nursed the bruises on his torso, and kept his eyes down, curling up on the floor beside the toilet. He still didn't say anything when Zeke kneeled down before him. _

"If you'd let me pick you up, this would never have happened."

"This has always happened," muttered Casey.

"What?"

"Come on, Zeke," said Casey, gritting his teeth as the pain flared again with him moving. "They'd hurt me anyway, when you're not around."

"They mustn't," Zeke gathered the younger boy, about to get him up in his arms if Casey had not stopped him. "No one is supposed to touch you, Casey, besides me. I swear. No one will ever lay their hands upon you again."

But it wasn't true, was it? Casey shut his eyes, not being able to stop some drops of tears from escaping. Not only had Zeke failed to prevent someone from touching Casey, this particular person – or whatever that was hiding inside him – had also threatened to end Casey's life.

"Aww," purred Ryan. "Hush. It's not gonna be that bad. You can even still keep this body of yours, which in my humble opinion will be such a waste to get rid of. You're beautiful, Casey," Ryan crawled above him and tilted Casey's chin up, making the trussed-up boy wince. "Hush, hush," said Ryan again. "I told you not to try to avoid me anymore. I can be very harsh, you know."

Casey's nostrils flared, he literally wheezing. Not long from now he would be hyperventilating if he got more panicked. His mind was muddled with images – a spawn being shot into Nurse Harper's ear, fragments of Mr. Furlong's fingers chasing Delilah, Stokes bleeding in the swimming pool with the queen itself after her. How – how was Ryan going to turn him into one of them?

The alien embodiment smirked at Casey's jumbled thoughts.

"Can't you tell yourself how I'm going to take you?" Ryan smiled widely.

Casey gaped at him in dread. Ryan can't mean… No, he can't. He CAN'T! The boy whimpered at his own upsetting thought. No. _Zeke…_

Baring his teeth to show what he called a smile, Ryan nodded.

"Exactly."

TBC

**Chapter 18**

How would you feel knowing that someone is gonna violate you? How would _anyone_ feel? How is it like to lie here all helpless and vulnerable waiting – no, definitely not _that_ waiting – as someone is standing at the foot of the bed, looming over you, swallowing you whole with his hungry eyes, smiling but the smile has somehow altered into more like a vicious grin of a shark?

And Casey certainly had no idea if it would be _better_ – if things would look less dire - if the one threatening to take him was only a man instead of an alien. Casey felt himself sink further realizing that Ryan would not merely abuse him but also pass a spawn or two into him that in turn would transform him into…

Casey was jerked back from his reverie when suddenly he got chills all over the upper part of his body. Ryan had done unbuttoning his shirt without him realizing it, and Casey's eyes strayed to his own hardening nubs on his chest before he could stop it. It was the cold breeze, he told himself. It had to be. An evil cackle interrupted his thoughts.

"Don't lie to yourself, Casey," Ryan's voice slurred as the owner moved now to unbuckle Casey's pants, which almost blinded the boy with panic as well as fury. "I know you enjoy this."

Well he could now take his legs from the entrapment of Ryan's knees and kick him hard on the crotch, thought Casey. And after he crushed Ryan, he might have some difficulty lifting his body with his hands bound behind his back, but he would manage. Then Casey would deliver another kick, maybe more, to the alien's stomach and head, and he would run off this room to escape, escape, _escape_. He would find his father, and his mother, and perhaps – _Zeke_.

A tired sigh was heard.

"Your fantasies are all amazing, sweet Casey. But I'm kinda fed up with them." There was a throaty sound of some fabrics getting torn apart, and to Casey's dread, it was his pants that had parted now, revealing his blue and white boxers. "You don't mind, do you, if we carry on with reality instead of a mere fantasy?"

"Unh!" breathed Casey out loud when Ryan so calmly tore his pants down. He was afraid his boxers would not last any longer, either. Casey's eyes flickered and glowed with feverish agony, and Ryan was delighted to grasp that there were a film of tears over those blue orbs now. Pleading and begging wordlessly, Casey reached out invisible hands toward Ryan to ask him to leave him alone, to ask him not to hurt him any further. Delicious shivers ran all over Ryan. Casey was afraid of him. _Petrified_. This would serve the boy right. Ryan feasted on the beleaguered soul, and later, soon, on the succulent body.

When Ryan took hold of the band of his boxers, Casey squeezed his eyes shut. This was it. There was no point of _hoping_ now. All was lost.

TBC

**Chapter 19**

The door creaked open and Zeke felt as if his heart leapt out of his throat. But no one came. No Casey's father or mother who would seize him and insist that Zeke knew the whereabouts of their son again. Zeke stepped in and shut the door behind him without a sound, and looked around. He was in the Connor house's kitchen. It was spotless and everything was put in their places. Zeke imagined this must be around dinner. Why was Casey's mother not preparing the meal? Or had they deferred doing it for the reason that their son was missing? Zeke felt the hair on his neck stood up, but he was adamant that Casey was still in the house.

In one corner of the kitchen was a closed door that Zeke guessed led to other parts of the house. Then in another, hidden a bit behind the fridge, was another door that was painted with a color so dark it almost escaped Zeke's notice. Zeke's breath caught. Might Casey be held against his will in the room behind that door? Zeke tiptoed to its direction…

And his heart stopped.

A muted, muffled scream threaded its way to Zeke's ears. One could say it was merely the Tyler boy's fantasy for the sound vanished as swiftly as it had come.

Behind his shut lids Casey sought any pleasant memories he could gather and cherish. His heart clenched when he realized there was just very few of them that he had – if not none. And Casey recoiled, rummaging instead about a place in his brain where he could just draw back, trying to forget completely the hands and fingers that had helped themselves with Casey's exposed self. Trying to forget his own body that slowly was betraying him. _Those fingers were good. Too good._ Casey's mind strayed then, and only snapped back when a voice reproached him. His own voice. And he cringed. Would he be giving up? No, hopefully not. He would fight. Casey would endure anything the creature subjected him to, but he would never submit.

But when those fingers felt like having turned longer and longer and – _uhh_… Casey had to force himself to look down to see what Ryan was doing to him, and the boy's eyes went round. It – it was not a hand with fingers anymore! They had amalgamated and grew to be tentacle-like – perhaps it _was_ a tentacle – and the thing teased Casey even more. Casey looked up pleadingly to Ryan to spare him this humiliation, but Ryan was not Ryan anymore, he never was, and the gleam in his eyes told Casey how much the alien took pleasure in the other's suffering.

"Like it, Casey?" Ryan's voice filled his head and Casey's hands tightened behind his back. _Go away. Go – away_.

"Or you think it's too much for you already? Well, I can't agree more. You know, Casey, I'm not here for your pleasure. Not even my pleasure, see?"

Casey turned his soaked sock in his mouth, but there was nothing he could do about it.

_Oh, just do it and be done with it._

Ryan chuckled gleefully and shook his head mockingly.

"Never thought you're as impatient as I am to join our body together."

To his dread, Casey felt cold limbs looped around his ankles and he yelped when suddenly Ryan turned him over so now he was lying on his stomach. _No. Oh, no. Let him take me in the mouth. Please, please. Not down there_ Casey's mind reeled when a lengthy, sticky, and slippery feeler stroked his bare ass. _Oh, this is not happening! Not happening. Not –_

Casey could not stand it anymore. Lifting his head from the bed and throwing it backward, he screamed – as loudly as the gag allowed him, which was not loud at all, and it was cut immediately as a livid blow landed at the back of his head.

TBC

**Chapter 20**

"_I'm going to enter you now, Casey."_

Casey did not know why those words were playing again and again in his head like some broken records.

_"I'm going to enter you, Casey. Please try to relax. You must trust me that I'm not going to hurt you, Casey?" _

"Uh-huh." Casey could manage nothing more than a grunt and short affirmation, before a string of unintelligible words bursting out of his mouth as Zeke thrust deep. Casey knew he must have been such a sight to his lover, being on all fours, back arching, him being stretched to the fullest down there, and his breaths labored. Beads of sweat broke out of all his pores, which Zeke must find it enticing, for he was now lapping up the skin of Casey's back greedily, while never ceasing stroking the inside of Casey.

"Oh…" Casey closed his eyes. He had never felt something as pleasurable as this. "Oh Zeke."

Oh Zeke.

The only person who would do things gently with him. Casey sobbed quietly as the strokes and rubbing never stopped attacking him. Yet _that_ would not come from this creature, would it – that soft voice?

_"I'm going to enter you now, Casey."_

He had wakened again, to his dismay, still in his bound state. Yet, he was still _Casey_. Ryan had not done anything more than playing with his body – the alien must have been entranced by him so much that he did not want to let Casey go so quickly. But Ryan could still get pleasure from him though he had turned into an alien, couldn't he?

"Yes, but your struggle wouldn't be there anymore," laughed Ryan. "And I love a fighting-but-want-to-be-broken victim." The voice was cold and mean. "But then, it's what my body wants. It can't stand it anymore. Oh, Casey." Casey felt an almost intimate caress at the small of his back and Casey shuddered. "You're such a precious jewel. Poor them who only got to turn a less than attractive prey. With you at least I get to savor some beauty."

Not that Casey heard any of that. His ears were buzzing with his own muffled cries and pleas. And his mind was waiting those particular words asking for permission.

_"I'm going to enter you now, Casey."_

But Casey could not tell _how_ exactly Ryan was going to enter him. He could not remember what he had seen in Marybeth – the alien in Marybeth, was it female or male?

Ryan here – was _he_ a female or a male alien? Did he have…?

Something – with a blunt tip – prodded at Casey's hole.

"Ughh," Casey's voice strained and he stiffened and he prayed and prayed and prayed…

He was too far outside of himself. He did not see or smell or feel anything anymore. He did not hear, either, how the door shattered and Zeke charged into the room.

Casey did not hear how _Ryan_ or the alien shrieked with all its might as _its_ hole was speared by a flashlight tube full of scat.

TBC

**Chapter 21**

Zeke chanced a sideway glance. The sight of a curled-up Casey in a blanket in the passenger's seat – all the quiet and the blank gaze thrown out of the window – made Zeke's heart sink. Not once had the shaken boy spoken – only a fleeting look showing his approval when Zeke had asked – both to Casey and to his parents – if he could just take Casey to his house, away from the place where the boy had been assaulted and almost destroyed.

_"Mr. Connor, Mrs. Connor, why don't you just take care of the remains of Casey's attacker there," Zeke nodded to the room in the basement. He barely cared for Mrs. Connor's stricken face or Mr. Connor's stance that seemed to be ready to set upon Zeke right then and there. The only thing he cared about now was the barely conscious and hardly clothed boy in his arms. _

Zeke had immediately untied Casey (while fighting hard not to howl and scream out his own fear that the worst had come upon Casey.) His hand was shaking when pulling out a woolen sock – Casey's own sock – from the boy's gagged mouth. What evil thing could do such a cruel thing? Yet, it was an alien who had done this so perhaps that was the most normal thing to do for them. Zeke turned Casey over and patted his cheeks gently.

"Case – Casey? Wake up, man."

After some time the heavy lids began to stir, and Zeke had never felt happier to see those blue eyes.

"Casey? Talk to me, please."

Casey rolled his eyes until he caught Zeke's sight, but then his face began to get contorted as if he would cry.

"Z-zeke…" Casey reached up toward his friend without realizing that his arms had been freed.

"I'm here, Casey. Are you alright?" Zeke's own voice cracked as a tear slid down Casey's cheek. The older guy brushed it away with his thumb.

"He – he touched me, Zeke." Casey stammered and began to sob, letting out what had crammed inside his chest all this while. Zeke hugged him and lifted him off the bed, not bothering to find Casey's clothes. As he wrapped the blanket around the gaunt shoulders and covered it all over Casey's body, there was only one thing in his mind: nothing and nobody else would lay a finger on his beloved anymore. Zeke held Casey close and carried it out and away from the dratted room.

"Zeke," Casey's voice was shaking. "He said he would not allow us to be free again. Not after Marybeth had worked so hard. He will return, Zeke, he will!"

Zeke sensed Casey quivering in his embrace. "Ssh, ssh. You're safe now, OK? Let's get out of this room now."

Outside the door Casey's parents had waited, having heard all the commotion downstairs. Their eyes bulged to see the state Casey was in. Zeke simply brushed himself away through the doorway, not heeding those two adults, and besides, some concern felt his mind as Casey was no longer trembling. Had he fainted again? Zeke shook Casey gently.

"Case, wake up, please."

Casey grunted weakly and rested his cheek on Zeke's shoulder. He was awake now and his eyes were open. Yet he still did not throw a single gaze toward his dad and mom. It was as if they did not exist to him. When Zeke proposed that he and Casey should go to his house, Casey simply stared at him.

But the meaning was clear enough for Zeke.

Still donned only in the blanket, Casey huffed his relief when the car slid into Zeke's front yard. They were finally far from Casey's house, beyond Ryan's reach. That creature would not be able to find this place, where Zeke made his antidote against those aliens, to capture Casey again.

TBC

**Chapter 22**

Casey went stumbling out of Zeke's car, his fingers absently clutching at the blanket around his shoulders, he staggering toward the front of Zeke's house. He did not seem to hear Zeke calling out at him, shouting at him to wait or let Zeke carry him inside. The frantic tone of Zeke's words was swallowed by Casey's desperate banging on the door panel. Zeke's face was a look of exhaustion when he ambled to Casey.

"It's locked, Casey," he said wearily.

Casey stopped thumping at the door, his shoulders sagging, but he did not turn to face Zeke. He merely stood there with eyes cast down. Zeke inserted the key into its hole and unlocked the door. Turning the handle, he opened the door wide enough for Casey to enter first. Casey leant forward, curious despite his wrecked mind. He had never been to Zeke's house. The older boy might call him anything: lover, sweetheart, even his other half, but everybody knew Zeke was not that easy to bring folk to his place.

Casey was rather amazed by the luxury presented before his eyes coming from the lavishly upholstered set of sofa, the thick and squashy-looking flooring, and a tall lamp that automatically gleamed faintly when someone opened the front door.

Zeke rested his hand lightly on Casey's shoulder. "Get inside, Casey," coaxed him gently. "We must get you some clothes."

Casey shrugged off the hand, though his eyes showed regret when he glanced briefly at Zeke afterwards.

"I'm alright," he mumbled. "No need to fret."

Zeke frowned a little.

"Nobody's fretting, Casey. You can't be in that blanket the entire night, can you?"

Casey sighed, paced inside, and slumped himself in one of the chairs. Zeke thought Casey would simply curl up from the look of it, but he did not. The boy just constantly pulled at the corners of the blanket to make sure no parts of his body were bared. Not once did he look up to meet Zeke's eyes.

"'m alright," Casey repeated. "Those thing didn't do more than touch—me. I—I wasn't violated."

Whatever made Casey say he was all right, thought Zeke, while he could see how the boy had broken apart back there at his own house.

"I don't want you to make it such a big deal. He—it died already. A happy ending. He died, and Mary Beth has died, too. No more aliens. No, no, no." As if just aware of himself blathering, Casey shut up immediately.

Zeke seated himself cautiously beside his lover, careful now not to come into contact with the other boy, whose mind was clearly troubled. Casey was rambling about how those aliens were dead and no more aliens existed. Didn't he think about how Ryan suddenly turned up after the death of Mary Beth? What if there were others out there?

Yet Zeke would rather not say those things. At least not yet. There would be times, when things had calmed down, when he and Casey could talk more about this, with clearer heads.

So he was quiet. Casey was quiet, too. Only faint rustling sounds of the blanket in Casey's hands filled the air, interposed by both of the boys' soft breaths.

Zeke was lost in his own thoughts.

He nearly missed Casey's whisper.

_"Zeke, would you touch me?"_

TBC

**Chapter 23**

Zeke nearly cursed himself for being so insensitive, so hesitant and careful toward Casey's feeling, that he did not immediately tend to Casey's needs of solace only he could provide. He should have known the mere reason why Casey had hastened to get inside Zeke's house. He mustn't have felt secure in his own house otherwise he would have let Zeke comfort him there.

Zeke skidded closer, snaking his arm around Casey's blanket-covered shoulder, and the boy slid himself into Zeke's cuddle while sniffing a little. His movement made the blanket slip down, baring his body, but neither of the boys cared. Casey rested his head between Zeke's shoulder and chin, and stayed like that for a moment too long; yet again, neither of the boys cared. Zeke could feel how Casey was sobbing a little, at first, but slowly, the sobs were receding. None of them realized it, and then they both swayed gently as one with a tune only existed in their heads. Casey's body had felt cold in Zeke's hand in the beginning but gradually turned warmer. Zeke could not help but feel relief wash over him inside.

Then Casey's soft voice broke the silence.

"I – I can still feel him all over me. He was touching me – everywhere. Even to my fingertips."

Zeke stiffened, white rage bubbling in his blood.

"I feel so filthy."

That was it. Zeke was ready to explode, right there and then, as he heard Casey's childlike, despaired voice. Still, he could not do that. Not before the boy, who needed his comfort more than anything else let alone his outburst. Casey could even mistake the rage was aimed toward him, and not Ryan.

So, instead, Zeke reached for Casey's hand. He brought it to his mouth and gently lapped up those blunt fingertips, one after another. Then he looked up.

"Better?"

There was a faint sob and Casey nodded a little, skating his other hand on Zeke's thigh and squeezing it, which elicited a sigh from Zeke and impelled him to carry on with…

The fading cord mark around Casey's wrist, then up to his bare shoulder, the side of his neck… And Casey tilted his head to the side, eyes fluttering closed, lips parting, and a long-winded moan was drawn out of his pink, wet mouth.

TBC

**Chapter 24**

"I'd rather fuck."

_"Eh?"_ Casey's confusion was apparent in his smile, though later on he was giggling. They had just fucked, that was what made him laugh. Whatever did Zeke mean by saying something like that?

Meanwhile, Zeke had the grace to blush as he bashfully explained.

"Sorry, Case. My mind was somewhere else."

Casey eyed him from his position sprawling along the sofa, arms stretched out above his head and bared skin sleek with sweat while smell of sex radiating from each and every single pore that was pulsating and convulsing, famished – just as Casey's other parts, heads, limbs – for Zeke's touch again and again despite, like Casey just thought before, the fact that Zeke had shagged him senseless just now.

Zeke eyed him back, and groaned. Never had he been able to hold the urge to run his fingertips over Casey's lustrous, porcelain skin, to _feel_ Casey, whenever he was with the boy. Yet…

"What have you been thinking?" Casey's voice was between sulking and teasing, him writhing languidly on the sofa.

Zeke was about to crawl above Casey when the question stopped him. He snorted dismissively.

"Ah, nothing. Well, actually, just thinking about the days we have to face again starting tomorrow. You know, all those mundane, _boring_ days when we have to go to school again, study again, nothing exhilarating like what we've just experienced."

But Casey's gawking at Zeke cut him instantly. Zeke combed his hair back with his fingers, feeling all guilty suddenly.

"Gosh, Case, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it. 'Course I'd never want you to go through all that again, to suffer so much… Damn, what have I been thinking?"

Down there, Casey tried to lighten the air. A forced smile broke across his face. He reached out a hand, taking Zeke's arm, drawing the other boy near.

"Come on, Zeke," Casey swallowed a lump in his throat. "Don't think about it again. I don't want to remember any of it." He slithered his body alongside Zeke's equally naked one and ran a hand over one of Zeke's nipples, down to the flat abdomen, and down to gather his lover's member that had already got hard again. Anything else was erased from Casey's mind but _this_, and things turned all right once more as he gently squeezed and Zeke moaned in return.

Casey fluttered his eyes closed and hid his face in the crook of Zeke's neck, breathing in the older boy's distinctive scent, and sniffed a little.

He felt utterly safe. He was home.

_fin_


End file.
